AP PhotoDetroit's Darren Helm, right, is congratulated by teammate Andreas Lilja after scoring his second goal of the second period against Nashville.DETROIT -- A opportunity for a hat trick doesn’t come around too often
for a fourth-line energy player like Detroit Red Wings center Darren
Helm.

So after he scored twice in the second period of Friday’s 5-2
victory against Nashville, his teammates were quick to remind him, on
the bench and in the locker room during the intermission, how close he
was to a unique achievement.

“They were jinxing me,” Helm said. “It was hard not to think about it.”

He
wasn’t able to get the third goal, but his second career two-goal game
was a good night’s work for a player who is relied on for speed,
checking and penalty-killing, not offense.

Coach Mike Babcock called
Helm the team’s best player from start to finish in a game the Red
Wings desperately needed to win coming off a terrible performance two
nights earlier against Vancouver.

Pavel Datsyuk scored a
highlight-reel goal. Tomas Holmstrom scored a power-play goal. Nicklas
Lidstrom recorded his 800th career assist. And Jimmy Howard rebounded
from a poor outing against the Canucks to stop 20 shots, allowing the
Red Wings to close the gap between themselves and Nashville, which is
seeded seventh in the Western Conference playoff picture, to three
points.

“We wanted to come out and be physical in the first period,”
Lidstrom said. “When you get on top of their defensemen and finish
checks, it’s a lot tougher for them to make good outlet passes. It sets
the tone for the whole team when we’re getting in hard on the pucks in
the offensive zone.”

Helm was the catalyst in that regard. After a
strong first period, the Red Wings continued to roll in the second,
spurred by Helm, who had gone 19 games without a goal.

Helm made it
3-0 at 3:35. He knocked the puck down with his glove, skated into the
slot, spun and fired a shot that handcuffed Predators goaltender Dan
Ellis.

Helm then scored his 10th goal of the season, while
shorthanded, at 9:10. After Ellis stopped Helm’s blast from the wing,
Ryan Suter lost the puck while trying to clear the rebound. Helm
pounced on it and scored on the backhand.

“Scoring and getting
points isn’t really a huge thought in my mind. It’s just competing
every night,” Helm said. “To reach 10 (goals), I think is an
accomplishment. Still lots of games left. Lots of opportunities for me
to score more goals. I’ll just keep grinding away and, hopefully, I’ll
find the back of the net a few more times.”

Nashville stopped a
would-be blowout with goals from J.P. Dumont (10:54 of the second) and
Joel Ward (3:15 of the third), but the Red Wings killed two Predators
power plays in the third period and got an empty-net goal from Henrik
Zetterberg with 3.2 seconds remaining.

“When you have an off-night
like I had the other night, you don’t want to overdo it, don’t want to
go out there and try to be perfect,” Howard said. “You just get out
there, make yourself big, just let the puck hit you.”

Datsyuk opened
the scoring with his 18th goal, a fantastic individual effort at 7:44
of the first period. He swiped the puck from behind off the stick of
defenseman Kevin Klein, who was turning up ice around his net. After a
few forehand-to-backhand moves in front of the net, Datsyuk deposited a
backhand shot over Ellis.

“He’s so good at sniffing them out and
knowing when to lift the guy’s stick. He doesn’t let them know he’s
there,” Lidstrom said. “He waits until he realizes he can get the puck.
It’s not a good feeling as a defenseman that he’s behind you.”